{"id":166094,"date":"2025-09-24T15:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T15:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/166094\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T15:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T15:42:09","slug":"australian-man-is-trying-to-save-3000-pianos-from-landfill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/166094\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian man is trying to save 3000 pianos from landfill"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s thought around 3000 pianos are finding their way from Australian homes to the tip every year in what’s been called a national shame.<\/p>\n

Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace is littered with adverts of pianos mainly as giveaways, with many owners blaming a lack of space in the home.<\/p>\n

Mike Hendy, who has dedicated his life to saving pianos, said they’re also not easy or cheap to move which is adding to the pianos’ downfall.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Childcare worker allowed to leave Australia after being accused of shocking crime against girl\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

\"MikeMike Hendry has become a passionate advocate for saving pianos rather than see them go to landfill. (A Current Affair)<\/p>\n

“I watched a guy put a sledgehammer through a beautiful piano and I thought there’s got to be a better answer than that,” Hendry from Pianos Recycled said.<\/p>\n

His family business not only takes in unwanted pianos, but also repurposes the wood for their sentimental owners.<\/p>\n

“From salt and pepper shakers to dining tables and jewellery boxes,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re not in a position where we can cope with the demand, truthfully. Councils won’t pick them up and pianos that find their way into landfill won’t decompose.”<\/p>\n

The piano played its way into Australia’s heart long ago; it came ashore at Sydney Cove with the First Fleet in 1788 and that very piano is now being restored and cared for in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Woman claims Optus complaints fell on deaf ears\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Piano\"\/The history of pianos in Australia dates back to the First Fleet. (A Current Affair)<\/p>\n

“Statistically speaking, Australia had the biggest piano ownership in the world from federation to the 1920s,” Hendry said.<\/p>\n

“For many lower and middle-class families, the piano was possibly the most expensive acquisition they’d make in their lifetime because they wouldn’t aspire to home ownership.”<\/p>\n

Abi Taylor from Bondi recently tried to offload her beloved piano and was thankful specialised removalist Anthony Elliott from Careful Removers stepped in to rehome it.<\/p>\n

“It was really hard (but) it was either my daughter or the piano,” she said.<\/p>\n

“There’s love for pianos and it makes me super happy that Howard’s (the piano) off to a great new place.”<\/p>\n

Watch the full story in the video player above\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s thought around 3000 pianos are finding their way from Australian homes to the tip every year in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-166094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}